Machine-gun



2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

M.OOLONEY. Machine-Gun.

No. 225,4 6. Patented Mar. 16, 1880.

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2 Sheets-Sheet 2 'M.GOLONIE.Y.

Machine-Gun.

Patented Mar. 16, 1880.

IIIIITlIIlI-lll l N PETERS. PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHER. WASHINGTON. D. C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MYRQN COLONEY, OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO JAMES HENRY MOLEAN, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURL.

MACHINE-GUN.-

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 225,466, dated March 16, 1880.

' Application filed May 5, 1879.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MYRON CoLoNEY, of the city and county of New Haven, and State of Connecticut, have invented an Automatic Firing Apparatus for Breech-Loading Fire- Arms, ofwhich the following is a specification.

My invention is applicable to breech-loading small-arms, artillery, and ordnance, and in part to battery-guns.

It can be used to best advantage in connection with magazines adapted to supply cartridges in succession, either automatically or by a positive movement, to a reciprocating breech-slide.

In connection with the reciprocating breechslide I employ a spring-bolt, which is released automatically by the movement of the slide as the latter approaches the firing position, and serves to fix the slide in position until the discharged is effected, when the bolt is automatically released to permit another movement of the slide. A stop-bolt serves to fix the slide in its retracted position when the operation is to be arrested.

The explosion of the charge serves to cook or reset the firing-pin in the manner which I have described and claimed in an earliei application for Letters Patent, and will be here inafter briefly described.

Under my present invention the movement of the locking-bolt serves to release the firingpin, so as to effect the discharge.

A hand-trigger is further provided for releasing the firing-pin when required, and also a thumb-piece for retracting the locking-bolt by hand.

In applying the invention to battery-guns consisting of a number of barrels in a horizontal range, I employ connecting-levers, each of which will be moved vertically at one end by the discharge movement of one firingpin, and by the movement thus imparted to the opposite end will be made to retract the triggerbolt of the next firing-pin, and so on, thus causing a successive discharge of the barrels automatically from one end to the other of the range.

In order that my invention may be fully understood, I will proceed to describe it with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal section through the breech of a gun illustrating the invention. Fig. 2 is a rear view of a portion of a battery-gun, illustrating the mode of producing the automatic and successive fire. Fig. 3 is a plan of the breech.

A represents a reciprocating breech-slide, which, for a single -barreled arm, is provided with two chambers, one of which is brought in firing position in rear of the barrel at the extremity of each stroke of the slide, while the other chamber receives a fresh charge from the magazine on either side of the barrel. B is afollower pressed forward by a rubber spring, C, of hour-glass shape, and formed in frontwith a pair of jaws adapted to engage with the grooved base of the cartridges, as illustrated in Fig. 1, in order to hold them against the impact of the firing pin D when the breechslide is moved to bring the cartridge into firing position.

E represents a trigger, acting on a triggerbolt, H, which is pressed up by a spring, F, and, in the action of the automatic firing mechanism, is depressed by the forward movement of a longitudinal bolt, Gr, the inclined shoulder of which acts against the top of the trigger-- bolt H, as shown in Fig. 1.

The bolt G is held in its retracted position by a spring-catch, M, Fig. 3, which catch is withdrawn before the breechslide reaches its firing position by the pressure of a sliding pin, N, operated by inclined protuberances 0 on the rear of the breech-slide. The bolt G, being then driven forward by a spring, Q, rests against the back of the breech-slide until the latter reaches firing position, when the bolt G springs into the recess 1?, prepared to receive it. The discharge is effected at the same instant by the depression. of the trigger-bolt H andrelease of the firin g-pinD, which is pressed forward by a spring, S. The explosion of the charge, acting on the follower B, drives the firing-pin back to its cocked position, and by the pressure of the vertical pin 1, attached to said follower on the bolt G, drives this back also until it is engaged by the spring-catch M.

The rubber spring 0 then instantly restores the follower B to its former position, in readiness for the next movement of the breech-slide A and a repetition of the operation.

L is a stop-bolt, notched as seen in Fig. 2, to retain it in either position in which it may be set, and adapted when pressed inward to engage with the shoulder of the slide or bolt G, so as to arrest the automatic firing.

The above is a description of the present invention as applied to single-barreled arms, whether small-arms,artillery, or ordnance.

To apply the same invention to effect the automatic and successive discharge of the barrels of a battery-gun, I employ the connecting mechanism shown in Figs. 2 and 3, consisting of a series of levers, K, pivoted at 70, resting at one end on the upper surface of the firing-pinD of one barrel, while the other end of the same lever engages with the triggerbolt H of the next barrel.

The inclined tappet 01, (shown in Fig. 1,) pressing underneath the first arm of the lever K, raises said arm as the firing-pin D is driven forward, causing the other arm of the lever K to depress the trigger-bolt H of the next barrel, thus releasing the firingpin D, which, in turn, acts on the leverK in like manner, so as to depress the third trigger-bolt, H and release the firing-pin of the third barrel, and so on.

. J represents the'roar cap or cover, by which the firing mechanism is cealed.

Having thus described my invention, the

protected and conbolt G, trigger-bolt H, and firing-pin D, whereby the forward movement of the spring-bolt G is made to effect the discharge, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

4. The combination of a series of firing-pins, D D, trigger-bolts H H, and connecting-levers K, to effect automatically the successive following is what I claim as new therein and discharge of a range of barrels, substantially in the manner described.

MYRON GOLONEY.

Witnesses GEO. D. LAMBERT, FRANK L. N IoHoLs. 

